Brody is the most beautiful dog in the world. Ask his family.
“She’s just a beautiful soul,” said Abby Michaels, her owner and pet mom.
A once-neglected puggle found by a teacher, his wife, and son through a Craigslist ad, Brody has been an integral part of their family — he even goes to Phillies games — for more than 16 years. When he died in June, he left “a huge hole” in their hearts and a ton of beloved toys. The family knows they won’t be leaving anytime soon.
But then Michaels, 60, saw a post on Facebook: Someone was collecting old pet toys — not annoying, missing the stuffing, chewing, whatever — making them look like new, and giving them to shelter dogs and cats .
Brody would like that, Michaels thought. So he grabbed a bunch of his old toys and put them down. And he actually felt a little better.
“It’s a good way to help you heal your heart,” he said, “and it’s a good way to give to those in need, whether it’s a dog or a person.”
The Ruff Toy Project
Brody’s toys became part of the Ruff Toy Project, started by Northeast Philadelphia animal lover Caitlin Parylak.
“I’m a big repurpose kind of person,” said Parylak, 25. “When I first got my foster dogs a few years ago, they went through toys with no business. I thought it was a great way to reuse. Plus, it’s a win-win for everyone. People feel good when they donate their toys.”
For the past few months, Parylak has been at home more due to a work-related injury at his city job. He posted a call for unwanted, in-need-of-repair pet toys on a Fishtown Facebook page, which soon spread throughout the city. Parylak found himself making 15 pickup stops in one run, and people like Abby Michaels started dropping off bags outside his house.
“It’s awesome.”
Soon, Parylak had his own Island of Misfit (Pet) Toys at his home in Academy Gardens. Using scraps of old clothing, patches of new fabric, and squeakers bought on Amazon, she created a one-woman workshop Santa that has rehabbed about 300 toys so far and has more waiting in the pipeline. wings.
Sometimes, having all those toys around is too tempting for her own dogs, Terry and Polar, two rescue pit bulls.
“Sometimes when I’m grooming them, Polar, my youngest, will come and try to keep one. I usually don’t let them take them. But if there’s one they’re really interested in, I usually only do one. I’ll go to the store and I’ll change it.”
Parylak would hear from donors that the toys they were giving away belonged to a beloved pet who had died. Her own cat Pippin had died two years ago, so she knew what it was like.
“Depending on how bad the shape of the toy is, I’ll try to gather a little piece of fabric and then they’ll make their own little keepsake to bring back to them,” Parylak said.
Today, he donates many of the repaired toys to ACCT Philly.
“Because they are the [city’s] It’s just an open-intake shelter, I feel like a lot of their budget should be prioritized over necessities, so they don’t really have money for toys,” Parylak said. “So I’ll try to go to them first.”
He also donated to the Pennsylvania SPCA. And he worked on a few bags of toys for cats at a cat cafe on Girard Avenue.
But Parylak is a Secret Santa. She said she usually just puts her completed toys in the shelters’ donation bins or gives them to friends to drop off.
“I’m not a limelight person,” he says.
Gillian Kocher, PSPCA spokeswoman, said Parylak has been a volunteer with their agency since 2019, often bringing dogs to events such as a recent Philadelphia Union soccer game. But, he said, “Nobody had any idea about the toys coming from Caitlin.”
But they are appreciated.
“Toys are essential tools in keeping our shelter residents entertained while they wait for their forever families,” Kocher said. “We often think about walking dogs and making sure they get enough physical exercise, which is very important. But, we can’t forget their brains. They need exercise too.”
Pet owners who have contributed to the Ruff Toy Project say they are grateful for the opportunity to help animals in need.
“I gave him a whole bag,” said Amanda Brickner, 38. She and her boyfriend, Kyle Jackson, 36, are both nurses and live in Center City with their two Goldendoodles, Rollie and Gaia. “I have dogs that are crazy. They get a BarkBox delivered every month, to each of them. So we have a lot of toys. I told him I would reach out to more of them as they went.”
Abby Michaels now maintains what she calls a “shrine” to Brody at the family’s Northeast Philadelphia home. Some of the puggle’s favorite toys are there, as well as other Brody memorabilia.
“I kept his favorite ball and his favorite bone, and I still can’t get his jacket off. But everything else, I felt like he was doing a great service,” Michaels said. “And I think it helped me through the grieving process to know that some cat or dog would be able to play with some of his toys.”
He always seems to teach his students: “Everyone has to pay for it in this world.”
